818 
GALLINAGO STENUBA. 
they are seldom visited by European sportsmen ; and the only danger the birds have to fear is at the hands of 
the wily Singhalese gunner, who not unfrequently “ pots” them in the early morning, before they have ceased 
to feed and seek concealment in the grass. But unless the villager is near enough to a market to be able to 
bring in the Keeswatuwa he shoots for sale, I do not think that he cares to waste his powder and shot on them. 
I must remark, however, in justice to native prowess, that occasionally Singhalese are to be found wno can 
render a moderate account of Snipe on the wing. 
Throughout the south-eastern districts, where there are tanks or freshwater marshes. Snipe are abundant. 
At Sittrawella, near Kirinde, I found them on one occasion in great numbers. There are other favourite 
haunts in the l r ala district ; and I believe the great Moorish rice-fields, irrigated by the waters of the Ambare 
and other tanks, form an excellent Snipe-ground. I have already alluded to the neighbourhood of Tamble- 
gam bay, which is one of the best grounds in the island, and there arc other excellent spots both in the interior 
and on the north-east coast. In the Anaradhapura and Vavonia-Velankulam districts they arc generally 
abundant, as also in the J affna peninsula. 
Erom the low country the Snipe finds its way into those portions of the hills where the locality is suitable 
to its habits; it affects the T) umbara paddy-lands and the terraced fields in all the Kandyan valleys; and 
during December and January great numbers frequent the Fort-Macdonald district, and furnish excellent 
sport for the planters of the surrounding neighbourhood. They are found on all the upland plains on the 
Nuwara-Eliya plateau, and are numerous on the Horton Plains, which form, of course, tne highest Snipe- 
ground in the island. 
About the middle of April the Snipe begin to move northward, and by the end of the month the majority 
have left the island. I have met with them in the Galle district as late as the 3rd of May, and have heard of 
their occurrence a little later than this. Some few birds occasionally remain in the island throughout the 
year ; but these are evidently unfit for migration, owing to wounds, or, in some cases, they may be first-year 
birds, which, as in the case of other Waders, remain stationary the first year. There can be no other cause 
to make Snipe remain in such a tropical latitude as Ceylon. 
On the mainland of India the Pin-tailed Snipe is most abundant in Lower Bengal, in portions of Central 
India, parts of the Deccan, the Carnatic, and the south of the peninsula generally. It is also numerous in 
Assam, Pegu, and the Bangoon district. These are the portions of Indian territory which it would naturally 
chiefly affect, seeing that it must of necessity enter India from its Central- Asian breeding -haunts by way of 
Assam and Northern Burmah ; and the migratory stream would therefore flow down the eastern side of the 
empire and end in Ceylon. 
Verifying these remarks, we find Mr. TIume noticing many specimens from Assam, Mr. Oates saying 
that it is the Common Snipe of Upper Pegu and very abundant at fonghoo, and Dr. Armstrong recording it 
as very abundant in the Irrawaddy delta. Again, Mr. Inglis finds that it is extremely common in Aoith-east 
Cachar, Captain Beavan testifies to its being more numerous than the European Snipe at Barrackpore, and 
Mr. Cripps to its being common in Eurreedpore. It seems then to skip over a large tract of country in Chota 
Nagpur, which would seem to be tenanted chiefly by its European ally. Mr. Ball says he never met with it 
in the “ division ” in question, and only notes it from Manblium, I conclude, on Captain BeavaiEs authority ; 
he, however, records it from the Godaveri valley. Erom the Mahabaleshwar district Dr. Eairbank does not 
notice it ; and Messrs. Davidson and Wender say that it is not so common in the Deccau as G. scolopacina. 
In the Carnatic it is more abundant than the latter ; and it is the Snipe of the Nilgliiiis. Mr. Bourdillon 
remarks that they are found at all elevations in the Travancore hills, and that they are more numerous at 
Trevandrum, in the plains, than the other species. 
In Northern and Western India it is rather rare. Major Lc Messurier and Mr. Blanford have recorded 
it in 'Stray Leathers ’ from Sindh, but no one else; and Captain Butler says that it is not common near 
Mount Aboo ; he procured it at Milana and near Ahmedabad ; and the date of its earliest arrival in this district 
is given as the 24th August. Captain Hayes Lloyd does not record it from Kattiawar. 
Turning eastward again, to trace ont its winter quarters in that direction, we find that it is common in 
suitable localities throughout Tenasserim, and was procured by Mr. Davison on the Pakchan, in the extreme south. 
In the Malay Peninsula it is recorded from Wellesley Province and Malacca; and at Singapore it was procured 
